CDL's sale of Sincere an anticlimactic end to a deal that was supposed to be a game changer

WHEN City Developments (CDL) announced late on Friday, Sept 10, that it had sold its 51 per cent stake in China-based Sincere Property Group (Sincere) for US$1, my first thought was that shares in CDL would probably take a hit when the market opened after the weekend.

While CDL had impaired its entire equity exposure to Sincere, it had still been working to extract value from this investment. By letting Sincere go for just US$1, CDL seemed to be indicating that it no longer sees any value in the beleaguered Chinese company's equity.

My second thought was that any sell-off in CDL would probably be a good opportunity for investors like me to jump on the stock.